Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2009

New AF1 indoor league delays deadline

By Ben Reynolds, Herald staff writer

What's in a deadline? For arena football, apparently, not much.

The Oct. 9 deadline came and went for franchises to submit their paperwork for inclusion to the new Arena Football 1 league with hardly a peep.

Several outlets have reported that the date got pushed back until Thursday, giving prospective teams more time to shore up lease agreements with their arenas and supplying prospective owners extra time to get all their paperwork in order.

The AF1 announced last month the first 16 teams to join the newly formed league, comprised mainly of former Arena Football League and arenafootball2 teams. The Tri-Cites Fever was one of those 16 teams.

The delay in the announcement is not expected to affect the Nov. 1 date when teams can start signing players and coaches.

However, the further the inclusion deadline gets pushed back, the longer it will take to put together schedules and the rest of the particulars of what is expected to be a two-tier league.

The Des Moines (Iowa) Register reported Monday that 11 teams have submitted applications to play in 2010.

According to the report, Kansas City, Cleveland, San Jose, Tampa and Albany are possible Tier 1 teams. Green Bay, Kent, Manchester, Las Vegas, Toledo and Texas are possible Tier 2 teams.

If Kent and Las Veges are admitted, they could form a nice four-team division with Tri-Cities and Central Valley.

Notes

Initially, all Kevin Jinks wanted to do was save the Fever. Owner Doug MacGregor said without a local investor, he would fold the franchise.

So Jinks did what he figured a die-hard fan should do: He pulled his resources together and made an offer to purchase the team.

His offer was eventually declined, and MacGregor sold the majority of the franchise back to J.R. and Teri Carr, who owned the team from 2005-2006.

But as he formulated his proposal and negotiated for the team, Jinks found he liked the idea of owning an indoor football franchise. Since the Fever was off the table, his Trademark Sports Group starting looking elsewhere.

Last week, that elsewhere landed him and his group in Ogden, Utah. Trademark Sports Group, headed by Jinks, who is a Kennewick machinist, purchased the Ogden Knights of the American Indoor Football Association.

"We thought it was over when we didn't get the Fever," Jinks said.

A phone call from league co-founder Michael Mink changed that, and now Jinks is getting things ready for his inaugural season with the Knights.

Trademark Sport Group bought the franchise from the league for an undisclosed amount. The Knights went 4-10 in their inaugural season in 2009.

Travis Vance, who was the Fever's assistant general manager for the past three seasons, has been hired as the team's vice president of football operations.

Jinks said expect some former Fever players and those associated with the franchise to be added to the Knights' roster over the coming weeks.

"We want to field a championship-caliber team this year," Jinks said.

The Wenatchee Valley Venom, which is getting ready for its first season in the AIFA, recently signed former Fever defensive back Ruschard Dodd-Masters.